Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 2
Up and Running with Neo4j
This chapter covers the requirements for running Neo4j as well as the steps for installing an instance of the Neo4j
database on your computer. To set you on the path to mastering data management with Neo4j, I introduce the Neo4j
Browser tool and walk you through the basics of the Neo4j query language, Cypher.
Neo4j
Neo4j began its life in 2000, when Emil Eifrem, Johan Svensson, and Peter Naubauer—the creators of Neo4j—began
to notice a significant amount of overhead in both the performance and work required in one of their applications.
The first and most significant aspect of the overhead could be traced to the mismatch of their content management
system's model with the relational database. While the properties of the model could be stored in and retrieved from
tables with relative ease, they observed that connections between the data imposed significant processing time for
queries. Moreover, the performance of the queries grew worse as the connections among the data became more
complex. Finally, the time and effort that was required to manage those relationships placed even more overhead on
the application's development lifecycle.
After seeking out alternatives and performing a few rounds of research, they began to build out Project Neo. Neo
aimed to introduce a database that offered a better way to model, store, and retrieve data while keeping all of the core
concepts—such as ACIDity, transactions, and so forth—that made relational databases into a proven commodity.
Subsequent research and development has propelled the Neo4j to the top spot in popularity, justifying the tagline
associated with the Neo4j logo on promotional materials, “The World's Leading Graph Database.”
1
As you will come to
see after working with Neo4j on your own, it fits extremely well with many different use cases, domains, and industries.
Requirements and Installation
The installation of Neo4j is straightforward and, regardless of whether you prefer Windows, Linux, or Mac, it should
take very little time to get running once it has been downloaded. If you are ready to get started with the quick install,
then browse to neo4j.com/download for a 30-day trial of the enterprise version. Click the download link and then
choose the version for your operating system. If you run into problems downloading from the neo4j site, you can also
visit
http://www.graphstory.com/practicalneo4j
and go to the download section to get the specific version as it
applies to the remainder of this topic.
1
